A lot of Important Words are going to be written today about whether Louis C.K. was raped by Melissa Leo in “Telling Jokes/Set Up,” and what it means for a man to be forced into doing something sexual that he doesn’t want to. But I don’t think that’s what we’re supposed to get from this episode — my takeaway is that C.K. was trying to show how even the most mundane of situations can have unexpectedly eventful moments.
Take, for instance, the “Telling Jokes” section, where Louie discusses a joke his younger daughter, Jane, told him about a gorilla trying to attend the ballet (a joke Louis also repeated on Leno). It was an unanticipated moment of childhood brilliance (it is a great gag, pardon my phrasing) during an otherwise dull dinner. The same sort of thing happens later on during a surprise blind date with Leo, when what begins as a tense, silverware-scraping meal turns into Louie getting his head smashed into a car window and licking a woman’s p*ssy and asshole after he gets an abandoned parking lot blowjob.
But the key moment of the episode comes (again, phrasing) when, after all THAT, Leo asks, “You wanna go out again, right?” and Louie responds, “Yeah, sure.” He was dreading having to head out to the suburbs for this dinner at Allan Havey’s house (anyone remember Night After Night with Allan Havey?), but by the end of the evening, Louie’s found someone who also doesn’t give a sh*t about long-term relationships and just wants to have some fun, an oddly optimistic and totally unseen conclusion to an otherwise dark episode. Like Louie itself, where every episode is a surprise, “Telling Jokes/Set Up” seems to say: you never know what’s awaiting you, so you might as well “strap on the feedbag” and enjoy the ride.
- To all dads out there, did that “first asshole” joke hit home as much as I think it did?
- Havey’s Bing Crosby impression was spot-on.
- Guess last episode’s motorcycle crash didn’t faze Louie one bit.
- I looked up “Dominic Perretti Connecticut,” and the only one I could find was this class act who “is a convicted felon wanted for removing his gps monitoring device and fleeing when identified in new criminal activity.”
- The real Melissa Leo is only slightly less crazy than Louie‘s Melissa Leo. But her character had a nice subtle spin on sexuality, too: she owned the giant truck, she drove Louie to the abandoned parking lot, she was the one who did the fake “MARRY ME!” comment. Wonderful character, wonderful performance.
- Loved the abrupt turn from “OK, he’s going to do it because she’s questioning his sexuality” to “HOLY CRAP, SHE SMASHED HIS HEAD ON THE WINDOW.”
- Dear KSK Sex & Fantasy Football Mailbag: should I tell a woman she’s a whore after she just went down on me?” Thanks. Love, Blowjosh.”
- He’s really gotta repay the favor, though. Not cool.
- Line of the night: “I just sucked your d*ck. You’re gonna eat my p*ssy.”
And now, the most soul-crushing, cringe-inducing moments from “Telling Jokes/Set Up.”
